


Worry Not

by TheDogPotato



Series: Bear in mind: I love you [4]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Dogs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 17:45:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDogPotato/pseuds/TheDogPotato
Summary: Bear gets ill, Emerson worries, and Joe decides to comfort them both.But also Bear's illness isn't too bad cause I could not do that even to a fictional doggo.Note: It's possible to read every part of this series as a standalone fic :)





	Worry Not

The rain was drumming on the roof of Joe’s car. The windshield wipers fought hard to bat away the rain and leave small moments of visibility through the front window.  Joe sat and watched their repetitive motions before he decided to just turn the car off. Emerson had texted him that he would be a bit delayed. He was picking him up to take him to his parents’ house where he would be house- and dogsitting for the week while his parents were away on vacation. Emerson had briefly mentioned having to pack lightly if he were to bring his bag on his moped, so Joe had offered to drive him in his car instead which he had gladly accepted. Looking at the water running down the window, he was happy he had offered to drive him.

“Phew, what a weather!” Emerson said as he without warning opened the door and got in. Joe jumped slightly at his unannounced arrival, but hoped that Emerson didn’t notice.

“Oh sorry. I would’ve knocked but was more preoccupied with escaping that,” Emerson said and gestured outside. Joe could understand why. The small walk from his flat to the car already had his curls dripping with water.

“I really appreciate you driving me there,” Emerson smiled at him once he had settled himself properly in the car. 

“I’m happy you didn’t have to go out in that weather,” Joe gestured at the waterfall on the window, before he turned the car on again and the windshield wipers came back to life, continuing their struggle of giving him a clear view of the road. “Why the delay?”

“Hm? Oh, remember Mike, my new roommate?” Joe couldn’t recall the name, but he did remember Emerson telling him about his old roommate moving out and finding a new one, so he hummed his assent.

“Yeah, well he keeps inviting people to come over, and everything was a bit chaotic as I was leaving. I’m quite happy to leave the place for a bit and just have some calm time with Bear. One of my downstairs neighbours have made it a habit to vacuum at weird hours of the night, and I don’t really know who it is, and I’m not really in the mood for being the grumpy neighbour who goes knocking on doors,” Emerson sighed.

Joe was about to reply, when Emerson continued: “Also, there’re so many things that need fixing. The lights are out on the stairs, the dryer in the washing room is out of order and we currently don’t have any hot water and we’ve already contacted the landlord twice. Once right before he went on vacation, and then again a week after he came back, but still no sign of anything being done,” he sighed heavily again. “Sorry about that rant. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m happy to have a break from that place and I get to see Bear so that’s a big plus.”

Joe smiled. “Em, of course you can complain to me about those things. If not to me then to whom?”

“Well my sister, usually, but I’m sure she appreciates sharing that burden,” Emerson grinned. “But I won’t talk about it anymore. It’s annoying but I’ll see this week as a sort of vacation away from that, and then I’ll try to actually do something about some of these things when I get back.”

“You deserve an actual vacation. You’re always working so hard,” Joe said sincerely, to which Emerson didn’t respond. After a prolonged silence, Joe took his eyes off the road for a second to be met with Emerson raising his eyebrows at him.

“Well if it isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” Emerson said. “You’re the hardest working man I know, and I don’t believe you’ve taken a vacation ever since you joined the team.”

“I’m not a vacation person. As you can imagine I’m not much for travelling on airplanes, crowded tourist spots or hotels,” Joe said.

“Yeah—no. Umm, sorry, I just meant,” Emerson gesticulated as he was trying to find the right words. “It doesn’t have to be a vacation _to_ somewhere. It can just be a vacation away from the job, doing something you like.”

“But I like the job.”

“I am aware, but it’s also really stressful. Too stressful in certain periods, I would say.”

“Emerson, you worry too much,” Joe chuckled, and Emerson looked at him in surprise. He was used to Erica telling him that, but had never expected to outworry Joe to the point of him saying that. “I don’t take the work home with me as often as I used to cause we have plans, often those plans are calm walks with your parents’ dog, and we even sometimes see other people.” Joe’s smile was wide, and the feeling carried over to Emerson, settling warmly in his chest. He had to admit that he’d never seen Joe so calm and jovial for such a prolonged period of time as he had lately, at work or not, and it was amazing.

As he was thinking a flash of lightning lit the streets. One, two, three, four, five. Six. _Crash._ It was far away, but Emerson knew that wasn’t gonna make a difference for a certain dog.

“Time to worry some more. Bear is gonna be scared out of her mind now. Good that she doesn’t have to be alone.”

Joe didn’t comment further on the worrying. “Good that we’re there soon.”

“Yeah, thanks again for driving me,” Emerson smiled.

“Of course. Want me to come by tomorrow and pick you up on the way to work?”

“That would be nice.”

Shortly after, Joe pulled up in front of the house. Emerson’s hand brushed over his and he let go of the gearstick and intertwined his fingers with Emerson’s, and Emerson conveniently forgot about leaving the car and venturing out in the rain. That was, until another flash of lightning turned his thoughts towards bear.

Emerson looked at Joe apologetically. “I gotta go. See you tomorrow!” He quickly planted a kiss on his lips and left the car. Joe watched him run the short distance to the door before driving off.

***

Joe woke to the sound of his phone buzzing against his nightstand. He always left it like that, so he would be easy to reach if there was a need, but seeing Emerson’s name pop up rather than Miles’ or the station’s number had him more worried than anything to do with work could have. He knew from experience that Emerson wasn’t a morning person, and that his morning routine was far less time-consuming than his own in order for him to get an extra half hour of sleep, so if he texted him out of the blue at this hour of the day it had to be something important. He quickly looked at the message.

 _Hi Joe, I have to take Bear to the vet, so you don’t have to come pick me up_  
_Depending on the wait I might be late to work_  
_See you later xx_

The worry in Joe’s stomach settled a bit after reading the message, but he couldn’t deny that he was also worried about Bear’s wellbeing. He had never had a pet, and he was well aware that it would be beyond his comfort zone to get a pet himself but being able to take care of Bear for shorter periods of time and experience the dog’s pure love for him despite having only known him a fraction of the time it had known Emerson or his parents, made him care deeply for the big cloud of happiness.

But it wasn’t a situation he could do anything about other than let Emerson know that it was ok, so he sent him a quick reply telling him that. Shortly after, the phone buzzed again.

_Sorry didn’t mean to wake you_

Joe smiled. Emerson didn’t know about his phone being on vibrate right next to his head as he was sleeping, which was probably the reason why he had texted instead of called.

_It’s okay. I was already awake. Give Bear a pet from me._

Joe replied with a white lie. He might not have been awake yet, but he didn’t mind getting up and getting the day started now that he was. Emerson replied with a relieved message and a declaration that he would definitely do that, and with that Joe got out of bed and prepared to start the day.

***

It was around noon when he left his desk to go ask Mansell about what he’d found out about the victim of their latest case’s familial relations, when he noticed Emerson’s desk still empty, and was slightly sidetracked.

He stopped in front of Mansell’s desk, but made a vague hand motion towards Emerson’s desk.

“Has Kent not come in yet?” He asked.

“Nah not yet. I think that’s a first for him, if it isn’t cause he’s ill,” Mansell said. Joe was about to explain what he knew, but he noticed the mischievous look that came across Mansell’s face and braced for what was about to come. “Maybe he went out last night and found himself--- umm, maybe he stayed up real late,” Mansell corrected himself before making a comment that even he deemed too over the line to say at the station, even though it didn’t get past Joe’s attention. Neither did the motion Riley had made with her hand across her neck before Mansell had derailed his original comment.

“He’s at the vet with his parents’ dog,” Joe informed them, and Mansell sat back with a “huh”, as he couldn’t really find anything to comment on that.

“Anyway, I came here for an update on Mr. Beckett’s family ties. Have you managed to get into contact with anyone related to him yet?”

Mansell gave him an overview of what he’d found out, but Joe was distracted halfway by Emerson calling him.

“You gonna answer that, sir?” Mansell said, his usual cheeky grin plastered on his face.

“It’s my personal phone. It can wait,” Joe said, but Miles quickly joined in.

“Just answer the man and get it over with!” he half-yelled from across the room. Joe sighed, but he did grab his phone and turned his back at the others while answering it.

“Kent” he said into the phone.

“Hi sir, I’m sorry but I won’t be coming into work today,” Emerson started out.

“What? Why? Is Bear okay?”

“Yeah…” Emerson said hesitantly. “Actually it’s not that bad at all. She’s got a hotspot and her fur around it needed to be shaved off. She got a shot, and I have pills and something to shower her with, and I just gotta make sure she doesn’t scratch it. It’s really not dangerous when treated, but she’s so uncomfortable, Joe, and neither of us really slept last night, and I’m a mess I’m sorry. It’s really not serious enough to warrant me staying home, but I still feel like I have to.”

“No, Kent it’s okay,” he said only slightly second guessing himself in thinking that he would have done the same if it wasn’t for his personal involvement. He walked a few steps further away from the others before telling Emerson in a hushed voice that he should get some sleep if he could, before saying goodbye to him.

When he turned around the other three were smiling deviously at him. He glared at them, but it didn’t have the desired effect, as not one of them stopped smiling.

“Kent will not be coming into work today, as his dog is ill, and he needs to take care of it. Riley I’ll need you to follow up on that cipher the victim was carrying in his pockets instead, and Miles be ready to come with me for the autopsy results as soon as we’re finished here,” he motioned towards Mansell and everyone shifted back to their professional personas.

***

Joe kept thinking throughout the day that he wanted to surprise Emerson with some good food. Emerson might have claimed that what Bear had wasn’t serious, but he knew he was worrying about her anyway. Worrying about things was something they both had in common and they easily recognized it in the other person’s voice at this point, plus Emerson would never have neglected work if he and Bear were both completely fine.

He opted for some takeout sushi to avoid having to cook something in a kitchen he didn’t know and having to bother Emerson about where this and that was. He also stopped by a grocery shop to buy Bear something good to chew on and some good ice cream and fresh berries for him and Emerson. Despite the rain that was also pouring this evening, it was actually Summer and quite warm, and Joe felt it was an appropriate dessert.

He got in line behind two teenage boys who had seemingly cleared the shop of crisps and energy drinks. It was a short line, and Joe had expected to be in and out in a couple of minutes, but the middleaged woman in front of the boys was angrily muttering about the wrong price on some discounted chicken legs, while the young employee tried her best to fix it. Joe noticed the badge affixed to the front of her shirt indicating that she was still new at the job and wondered if the woman impatiently nagging her to fix it straight away, either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The bell eventually rang throughout the shop for another employee to come help, and Joe distracted himself from the unpleasant complaints of the woman, the banter of the boys and the carefully arranged candy and other goods designed to trick you into impulse buying while you were waiting in line, by taking out his phone.

He sent Emerson a text telling him he was coming over and bringing dinner. He would have liked to have made it a complete surprise, but he also wanted to make sure that Emerson didn’t spent energy getting dinner for himself. The reply came fast, happy and thankful.

It eventually came his turn and again there were some hiccups due to the cashier not being well versed in putting in the price of fruit. The girl sent him a nervous smile. Joe suspected he looked the stereotypical man in a suit who always seemed to be in a hurry to go somewhere, and he might have ended up that way, he thought as he remembered the higher ups he’d mingled with when he first started at the station, and became thankful that his feet had been planted firmly on the ground and he didn’t feel like his time was worth more than common human decency.

***

Despite having announced his arrival, Joe still knocked on the door. Emerson opened it and quickly stepped aside to let Joe inside and out of the rain. It was still light outside, but the overcast sky made it necessary for the light in the hallway to be turned on giving Joe the feeling of hiding from the rain in autumn. Emerson grabbed the bag of wares giving Joe free hands to shrug off his coat. Joe looked back over at Emerson, who was dressed in a black t-shirt that once had had some sort of pattern on the front which was mostly worn off, and pyjamapants. His hair was wild and unruly as if he’d just gotten out of bed. He looked soft and huggable, and Joe would have were it not for his own clammy clothes from the rain.

“I actually managed to take a nap this afternoon,” Emerson said grabbing the collar of his old shirt when he saw Joe looking at him. Joe noted the bags under his eyes, and the suppressed yawn that came just after he uttered that sentence. Evidently the nap hadn’t been much help, but instead of commenting on that, he jokingly asked if he was overdressed for the occasion.

“Of course you are, but that’s just part of who you are,” Emerson grinned and turned to walk into the living room.

At that point Bear started howling from somewhere in the house.

“I’m sorry, Bear!” Emerson said with a guilty expression. “I had to put her into the bathroom, so she wouldn’t come running towards you.”

“Oh?” Joe was rather used to Bear coming barrelling towards him at this point.

“The hotspot is pretty nasty. It looks bad and even though I recently cleaned it, it has a certain smell about it too. I just wanted to prepare you for that, but it’s on the front of her neck, so it’ll be fine just petting her head and back,” Emerson explained.

“Ah,” Joe said stopping in his tracks. Head and back. It’d be fine. Emerson had also paused on his way to the bathroom door despite Bear calling out for him.

“Is it okay?” Emerson asked, his hand hovering above the doorhandle.

Joe nodded and prepared for the dog. As Emerson opened the door slightly, a smiling dog snout pushed out through the crack in the door.

“Bear, be nice!” Emerson told her. She whined a bit, and Emerson opened the door for her to fully sprint out towards Joe. Looking at her from above as he did, her head and the long fur on the front of her neck that wasn’t shaved obscured the big spot that _was_ shaved, and Joe didn’t even see the hotspot as she leapt towards him happily. He reached out to scratch her head, but before she reached him she quickly almost let herself fall to the floor, her head and neck pressed completely against it.

Joe looked up at Emerson who wore a worried expression on his face.

“She’s been doing that a lot today. It’s like she can’t find rest cause she’s feeling so uncomfortable so out of nowhere, she will run around and then lie down suddenly in that manner. I think the wooden floor against her hot and itchy neck might be the only sort of relief she can give herself, cause I tell her to not scratch it. I wish I could also tell her why I am stopping her from doing something she thinks is helping,” Emerson explained with a frown. He bent down and gently scratched Bear behind the ear.

Joe walked behind placing a hand on his shoulder and reaching down to stroke Bear down the back, earning him a couple of tail wags.

“I’m sure she won’t hold that against you,” Joe said, as he grabbed the bag from Emerson again, and made his way towards the kitchen to set the dinner table.  “You said it wasn’t dangerous?” He said, the statement framed as a question by the tone of his voice.

“No,” Emerson started, then he huffed out a laugh. “I kept calling her Bear at the vet today, even though they have her registered as Zephyr, and she _is_ a nice wind, but she is also very much a Bear, aren’t you, Bear?” He directed his speech towards Bear, who despite feeling uncomfortable had plenty of tail wags to spare at Emerson’s sweet voice.

He looked towards Joe who was barely visible in the kitchen from where he was sitting. “Do you need any help?” he asked.

“I think I’m fine. The beauty of takeaway is that you don’t really need to prepare anything,” Joe replied. The rustling of the bag could be heard, and all of a sudden Bear forgot her discomfort, while ignoring the fact that Emerson was petting her, as she zoomed towards the kitchen. Emerson got up to follow her and saw her sitting attentively by Joe’s side.

“When I was a kid and I was ill, my mom would always get me a special treat that I really liked, so I thought I would do the same for you, what do you say?” Joe said as he got the dog treat out of the bag. Bear started wagging her tail excessively.

“Is wagging your tail until it almost falls off the dog version of a thank you?” Joe asked still looking down at the dog, but glimpsing up towards Emerson who for a moment looked neither tired or worried as he looked at the dog who had forgot her discomfort at the promise of food. Joe didn’t prolong the wait and gave the dog the treat before going back to setting the table.

The three of them enjoyed their food together.

“I really appreciate this. I was not in a mood for going out to buy groceries. I would probably just have eaten whatever I could find in the fridge otherwise,” Emerson said.

“Yeah, well I took the easy way out myself. The dessert’s easy as well. I was thinking we might watch a film together? You know, something grim, dark and murdery. Something we don’t get enough of in our everyday life,” Joe smiled.

“Well it does sound interesting!” Emerson replied.

Joe was right. The dessert was easily made, and it didn’t take long before they were curled up on the sofa together. Emerson had gotten Bear to come up onto the sofa with them. She curled up into a ball of floof next to him.

“I might be a bit tired,” Emerson said unprompted a while into the film.

“I might have noticed already,” Joe said, not mentioning the current obvious clue, that Emerson had gradually moved closer to him and laid his head on his shoulder. He shifted his arm to wrap around Emerson where it came to rest on the soft fur of Bear’s back.

“I’m sorry, _sir,_ ” Emerson said, jokingly putting emphasis on the honorific, “but you’d be a terrible detective if you hadn’t. I’ve been yawning up a storm, but hopefully not a thunderstorm, since that is part of the reason I’m so tired. Bear wouldn’t sleep yesterday with the lightning and thunder, she was so terrified. So I stayed up to cuddle with her, but then I noticed her fur being greasy and wet on the front of her neck, and when I looked at it further, the smell and the angry red skin underneath told me what it was, and I know how fast it can spread and that it was already pretty bad, so of course I ended up not getting any sleep at all thinking about how I had to get her there as quickly as possible. Which was good since the vet told me, she’s had dogs in where it had spread so much she had to shave pretty much all of them. We’re happy that didn’t happen to you, right Bear?” This time the pet directed speech didn’t illicit any response from Bear as she’d fallen peacefully asleep lying across Emerson’s lap.

“I’m glad you found out as quickly then, and that she’s gonna be fine,” Joe said.

“And I’m glad I have you! How do I deserve you?” Emerson asked softly and sincerely still nuzzled up against Joe with his head on his shoulder. Joe’s immediate thought was: “You mean besides being on my side from the moment you knew me?” or how he should be the one asking that question, but instead he just held Emerson a little tighter, and a comfortable silence grew between them.

It didn’t take long before Joe recognized the evened out breathing of Emerson as he fell asleep, and Joe vowed to watch the rest of the film sitting as still as possible to refrain from disturbing the peaceful sleep of Emerson and Bear.


End file.
